12 Bestselling Nonfiction Books
Period: July/August - 2019
Celebrating books written by or about Black people, the African American Literature Book Club’s Bestsellers List has been published continuously since 1998. In 2026, we began publishing our list quarterly, focusing on The BLK Bestsellers.
Fiction: Bestselling fiction is led by the short story collection Evil Never Sleeps: Tales of Light and Darkness by Robert Fleming an accomplished yet under recognized talent and the new novel from Kalisha Buckhanon, Speaking of Summer.
Nonfiction: Always a good mix of interesting titles this period’s list reveals a theme of overcoming struggle with grace and dignity as illustrated by Fifty-Five Unemployed and Faking Normal: Your Guide to a Better Retirement Life and After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom.
Children’s Books: Children’s books outsold all other genres this period. Sales were led by books on our “Top 150 Recommended African-American Children’s Books” list.
Poetry: One book made our list this period, Rock And Fire - Love Poetry From The Core by Marc Lacy.
